International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology (IJEAB) Vol-2, Issue-5, Sep-Oct- 2017

http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/2.5.13 ISSN: 2456-1878

Analysis of Yield Attributing Characters of

Different Genotypes of Wheat in Rupandehi,
Nepal
Gobinda Pandey1*, Laxmeshwar Yadav1, Anand Tiwari1, Hom Bahadur Khatri1, Samsher
Basnet1, Kamal Bhattarai1, Binod Gyawali1, Nabin Rawal2, Narayan Khatri2
*Corresponding author email: gobi8448@gmail.com
1
Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Paklihawa, Rupandehi, Nepal
2
National Wheat Research Program, Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, Nepal

Abstract Field experiment was conducted at National
Wheat Research Program, Bhairahawa, Rupandehi with
the objective to identify high yielding superior wheat
genotypes for Rupandehi district of Nepal during 2014.
Experiment was laid out in one factorial Randomized
completely block design with ten wheat genotypes
including both released and promising; Annapurna 1,
Annapurna 3, Pasang Lahmu, Bijaya, BL 3623, Bhirkuti,
NL 297, BL 4316, BL 3978 and BL 4347 with three
replications. The results showed that the grain yield of BL
3978 was found higher (4.03 t ha-1) than other genotypes
followed by BL 4347 (3.93t ha-1). BL 3978 have also
higher number of effective tillers m-2 and test weight.
Among release varieties, NL 297 show higher yield (4 t
ha-1) followed by Bhirkuti (3.43 t ha-1) and Bijaya (3.37 t
ha-1). From this experiment it can be concluded that BL
3978 was found promising among all genotypes however
should be tested at on-farms before promoted for general
cultivation in Rupandehi district of Nepal.
Keywords- Genotypes, Wheat, Yield.
I. INTRODUCTION
Agriculture contributes on an average 33 percent to Gross
Domestic Product and employs 65.7 percent of the labor
force in Nepal [1]. Wheat is the third most important crop
after rice and maize, but in terms of human consumption
it ranks second. Wheat is grown in different agro-
ecological zones and environments with different
production potentials. It is cultivated on 745,823 hectares
of land and has the production of 1,736,849 tones with
average productivity of 2.32 ton hac-1 in Nepal [2].
Cereals crop share about 37 % to agricultural GDP,
among this wheat share about 7.14 % [3]. It occupies 24%
of total cereal area and contributes 20% of the total cereal
production in Nepal [2]. Most of the wheat area (57.8%)
and production (65.2%) occurred in terai region which
occupy only 23% of the total land area of Nepal [2].
Improved varieties cover about 95.8% of the total wheat
area whereas, 66.21% of total wheat crop area is grown
under irrigated environment [2].
National Wheat Development Programme was established
in 1972 to organize the research and development works
on wheat as a commodity crop. Since then, there have
been great achievements brought out by the consolidated
efforts of wheat researchers, extension workers and
farmers. So far there are 35 improved wheat cultivars and
90% of the wheat area is covered by modern wheat
cultivars in Nepal [4]. Nepal Agriculture Research
Council [5] mentioned that performance in wheat
production in Nepal has increased remarkably due to wide
spread cultivation of high yielding varieties since 1972. In
fact Department of Agriculture had launched a Grow
More Wheat Campaign in 1965/66 with the introduction
of Mexican wheat varieties introduced via India. The new
varieties of seed were launched since then and now
occupy 96% in 2006/2007 [6]. There are altogether 30
varieties developed for different environment in Nepal
[7]. During the last 38 years period from 1970/71 to
2007/08 the production of wheat in the Terai region
increased from 81,600 Mt to 1,040,535 Mt [8]. One of the
reasons for increase in wheat yield is the use of improved
seeds. About 97% of seeds used in Nepal during 2007/
2008 [9] was improved. With availability of the high
yielding varieties as well as improved irrigation facilities
in terai, wheat yield has increased more than three times
in the terai. The low productivity of wheat in Nepal is
mainly due to three reasons; low yielding varieties, low
use of production inputs like seeds, fertilizer etc, and lack
of irrigation and poor soil fertility management practices
[10].
Therefore this study was conducted at National Wheat
Research Program Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, Nepal in
2014/15 during winter seasons in order to identify high
yielding superior wheat genotypes for Rupandehi district
of Nepal.

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International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology (IJEAB)
http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/2.5.13
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Location, Climate and Weather Condition
A field experiment was conducted at NWRP (National
Wheat Research Program) farm, Bhairahawa, Rupandehi
which is located in the south part of Rupandehi and near
Fig.1: Map of Rupandehi district sowing research site (NWRP, Bhairahawa)
Design of the experimental plot and sowing
The experimental plots were laid out in one factor RCB
design consisted of 10 wheat genotypes (Annapurna 1,
Annapurna 3, Pasang Lahmu, Bijaya, BL 3623, Bhirkuti,
NL 297, BL 4316, BL 3978 and BL 4347) with three
replications. Each replication was separated by 2m tally,
while the plot was separated by 1m. The size of the
individual plot was 3m 2m i.e. 6 m2. Spacing between
row to row was 25 cm and plant to plant is continuous,
there was 12 rows of 2 m long. All wheat genotypes were
sown on same date of 15 December of 2013 with seed
rate of 120 kg ha-1. Chemical fertilizer was applied @
100:50:25 kg N:P2O5:K20 kg ha-1.Half dose of nitrogen,
full dose of phosphorus (50 kg ha-1) and potash (25 kg ha-
1
) were applied as basal dose. Remaining half dose of
nitrogen fertilizer was applied as top dress in two-split
doses i.e. 1/4th at CRI stage after first irrigation and 1/4th
at panicle initiation stage. Data collection based on plant
height, spike length, effective tillers m-2, number of
grains per spike, grain yield t ha-1, biomass yield t ha-1,
harvest index and test weight. Statistical analysis was
done using Microsoft Office Excel, and MSTAT-C
Package program.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Biometrical observation
Plant height
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Vol-2, Issue-5, Sep-Oct- 2017
ISSN: 2456-1878
the India border (Figure 1). This area is located at latitude
27 30' 0" N and longitude 83 27' 0" E. Weather and
climate of this area is around 400C in summer season and
100C in winter season. Average Monthly Rainfall: 545.6
mm.
Result revealed that plant height was highly significantly
influenced by different genotypes. Plant height was
observed maximum on Pasang variety (111.1cm).
Whereas minimum plant height was recorded on Bhirkuti
(66.87 cm). Which was at par with BL 3623 (73.4 cm)
(Table 1). The minimum plant height was due to varietal
characters, lack of proper irrigation at CRI stage and soil
condition. These results were in line with [11] who
reported that the plant height was significantly different
between genotypes.
Spike length
Spike length was highly significantly influenced by the
different genotypes of wheat (Table 1). BL 3978 have
more in length (11.47 cm) and it was at par with NL 297
(11.27 cm) and Pasang (11.2 cm). And the shortest spike
length was observed in Bijaya (8.06 cm). Which was at
par with Annapurna 1 (8.46 cm) (Table 1). These results
were in line with [11] who reported that the spike length
was significantly different between genotypes.
Effect of genotypes on yield attributing traits of wheat
Effective tillers per square meter
Among yield attributing components, productive tillers
are very important because the final yield is mainly a
function of the number tillers bearing spike per unit area.
The effective tillers m-2 was highly influences by different
genotypes significantly (Table 1). An average effective
tiller m-2 was recorded in the experiment was 217.
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International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology (IJEAB)
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Among cultivars, BL 3978 showed higher effective tillers
m-2 (285) (Table 1), which was followed by BL 4347
(270). Whereas lower effective tillers was given by
Pasang (179), which was at par with Annapurna 1 (182)
and BL 3623 (189). Significant difference in effective
tillers among the cultivars might be due to their genotypic
characteristic. These results were in line with [11] who
reported that the productive tiller was significantly
different between genotypes. Our finding was also
confirmed by [12].
Number of total grains per spike
Genotypes highly influenced the number of grains per
spike significantly (Table 1). The average number of
grains per panicle was found 40. Higher number of grains
spike-1 was found in Annapurna 1 (52) followed by
Vol-2, Issue-5, Sep-Oct- 2017
ISSN: 2456-1878
Bhirkuti (46). Lowest number of grains spike -1 was found
in BL 4316 (30) followed by BL 4347 (32) (Table 1).
These results were in line with [11] who reported that the
number of total grains per spike was significantly
different between genotypes. Quite identical results were
obtained by [13, 14, 15 and 16].
Thousand grains weight (Test weight)
Effect of genotype on thousand grains weight was highly
significant (Table 1). Comparatively higher test weight
was found in BL 3623 (40.7 g) followed by Bijaya (40.1
g). Annapurna 3 has minimum test weight (29.1 g)
followed by Pasang (29.2 g) (Table 1). Higher test weight
was found due to varietal characters as well as sufficient
moisture during the growing period. [17] Also found that
test weight was significantly influenced by the genotypes.

Table.1: Effect of genotypes on grain yield, biomass yield and harvest index of wheat at National Wheat Research Program,
Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, 2014
Effective tillers Total grains Test weight
Genotypes Plant height (cm) Spike length (cm)
m-2 spike-1 (g)
Annapurna 1 74.4cd 8.467de 182d 52a 32de
Annapurna 3 81bc 8.667d 200bcd 41bcd 29.1e
Pasang 111.1a 11.2a 179d 35cdef 29.2e
Bijaya 82.87b 8.067e 222b 42bc 40.1a
BL 3623 73.4de 8.8d 189cd 44b 40.7a
Bhirkuti 66.87e 8.933cd 222b 46ab 35.1cd
NL 297 74.07cd 11.27a 213bc 34def 36.03bc
BL 4316 75.47cd 10.0b 209bc 30f 39.3ab
BL 3978 85.73b 11.47a 285a 39bcde 37.9ab
BL 4347 78.73bcd 9.333c 270a 32ef 31e
F test ** ** ** ** **
SEM 2.21 0.1643 8.347 2.293 1.05
LSD (0.05) 6.565 0.4882 24 6 3.129
Grand mean 80.36 9.6 217 40 35.07
CV (%) 4.76 2.95 6.65 10.04 5.2
Means followed by the common letter (s) within each column are not significantly different among each other based on
DMRT at 5% level of significance. F: test: ** denotes highly significance at 1 % level

Effect of genotypes on yield and harvest index
Grain yield
Grain yield is determined by the yield attributing traits of
the crop. The yield of the particular crop in a location is a
combined effect of genetic makeup of the cultivar,
growing environment and the crop management practices.
Grain yield is a function of yield attributing traits,
primarily productive tillers, numbers of grains per spike
and thousand grains weight etc.
Grain yield was highly significantly influence by the
genotypes (Table 2). Higher grains yield t ha-1 was obtain
in BL 3978 (4.03 t ha-1) followed by NL 297 (4.0 t ha-1)
and BL 4347 (3.93 t ha-1) (Table 2). Lowest yield was
observed in Annapurna 3 (2.33 t ha-1) followed by the
Annapurna 1 (2.77 t ha-1) and Pasang (2.80 t ha-1) (Table
2). Low yield was found in these varieties due to their
genotypic characters because they were recommended
variety for hilly region; they show low performance in
terai region.
[18] also found that grain yield was significantly
influence by the genotypes. He also found that Gautam
produced significantly higher yield than Bhrikuti and
BL1473 under both the tillage practices. However,

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International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology (IJEAB)
http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/2.5.13
Bhrikuti also produced significantly higher grain yield
than BL1473 under conventional tillage.
Biomass yield
Biomass yield was found to be highly significantly
influenced among all genotypes (Table 2). Maximum
biomass yield was observed in Bhirkuti and BL 3978 (8.3
t ha-1) followed by BL 4347 (8.13 t ha -1) (Table 2). Low
biomass yield was found in BL 3623 (4.83 t ha-1). Low
biomass was due to the low straw yield in BL 3623 (1.23
t ha-1) but have higher grain yield (3.6 t ha-1) (Table 2).
[18] supported our above results for biomass yield, which
was significantly influenced by different genotypes.
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Harvest index
Harvest index was found to be highly significantly
influenced among all genotypes (Table 2). Maximum
Harvest index was observed in BL 3623 (0.74) (Table 2).
Whereas low Harvest index was observed in Annapurna 3
(0.33) followed by Annapurna 1 (0.37). Low harvest
index was due to these variety was recommended to hilly
region; they show low performance in terai region. [12]
also found that harvest index was significantly differs in
all genotypes.

Table.2: Effect of genotypes on grain yield, biomass yield and harvest index of wheat at National Wheat Research Program,
Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, 2014

Genotypes Grain yield (t ha-1) Biomass yield (t ha-1) Harvest index (HI)

Annapurna 1 2.77c 7.3de 0.37i

Annapurna 3 2.33d 7.06def 0.33j
Pasang 2.80c 6.7f 0.41g
Bijaya 3.43b 7.8bc 0.43f
BL 3623 3.60b 4.83g 0.74a
Bhirkuti 3.37b 8.3a 0.40h
NL 297 4.0a 7.5cd 0.53c
BL 4316 3.50b 6.83ef 0.54b
BL 3978 4.03a 8.3a 0.47e
BL 4347 3.93a 8.13ab 0.48d
F test ** ** **
SEM 0.089 0.15 0.0057
LSD (0.05) 0.266 0.447 0.0017
Grand mean 3.38 7.27 0.46
CV (%) 4.59 4.58 4.51
Means followed by the common letter (s) within each column are not significantly different among each other based on
DMRT at 5% level of significance. F: test: ** denotes highly significance at 1 % level

Correlation regression studies
To assess the relationship between growth parameters,
yield attributing traits and grain yield simple correlation
coefficients were worked out. The number of effective
tillers m-2 contribute approximately 44.8 % (R2 = 0.488)
on the grain yield. Whereas the remaining 55 % increase
in grain yield may be due to other variables (Figure 2).
Similarly, approximately 26 % (R2 = 0.26) contribution
by test weight on the grain yield and the left 74 %
increase in the grain yield by the other variables except
test weight (Figure 3). Whereas grain yield contributed
about 36 % (R2 = 36) towards increase in the harvest
index (Figure 4). And the remaining 64% increase in the
harvest index by the other variables rather than harvest
index.

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International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology (IJEAB) Vol-2, Issue-5, Sep-Oct- 2017
http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/2.5.13 ISSN: 2456-1878

4.5 y = 0.0109x + 1.0022

4 R = 0.4489

Grain Yield (t hac-1)

3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Effective tiller m-2
Fig.2: Relationship between grain yield and number of effective tillers per square meter of wheat at NWRP (Bhairahawa),
Rupandehi, 2014

4.5
4 y = 0.0601x + 1.3037
Grain yield (t hac-1)

3.5 R = 0.2608
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Test weight (g)

Fig.3: Relationship between grain yield and test weight (g) of wheat at NWRP Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, 2014

0.8
0.7
y = 0.097x + 0.136
0.6
R = 0.364
0.5
HI

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Grain yield t ha-1

Fig.4: Relationship between grain yield and harvest index of wheat at NWRP Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, 2014

IV. CONCLUSION Among release varieties NL 297 show higher yield

The grain yield of BL 3978 was found higher than other followed by Bhirkuti and Bijaya. Bhirkuti show higher
genotypes followed by BL 4347. BL 3978 have also number of effective tillers m-2. Grain per spike also found
higher number of effective tillers m-2 also have higher test higher in Bhirkuti and Bijaya. From our experiment we
weight. Higher biomass yield also found in the BL 3978. concluded that BL 3978 is higher yielder among all

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International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology (IJEAB)
http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/2.5.13
genotypes and NL 297 and Bhirkuti is found to high
yielding varieties. However, at least three years of multi-
location experiment will be needed to validate this
research further.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our gratitude to National Wheat
Research Program (NWRP), Bhairahawa for providing
necessary research field, seed of different genotypes and
technical support to conduct this experiment. Our sincere
thanks go to Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences
(IAAS), TU for all help and support.
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